Sometimes
by Darkrealmist v.2
Summary: Hikari Netto and Hikawa Tohru work through their burgeoning feelings for each other during their trip to Okuden Valley. [Two shot. Animeverse. Netto x Tohru]
1. Netto

Sometimes

Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: Set during episode 35 of _EXE_. I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.

Pairing: Netto x Tohru.

Summary:

Hikari Netto and Hikawa Tohru work through their burgeoning feelings for each other during their trip to Okuden Valley.

* * *

Chapter 1: Netto

Sometimes, I look at you, and you're no longer the same person I've known. I mean, you're still a fifth-grader like me. You still wear that faded yellow and blue hooded sweatshirt and those green shorts I've seen you in since forever. You're still a bright-eyed, fly under the radar sort of guy with a curious streak. But the dynamic between us has undoubtedly changed.

I know it because my heart speeds up uncontrollably when you're near.

Meiru-chan and Yaito-chan are complaining over how much of an idiot I've been during the past hour, firstly because I got a running start on the onigiri, and secondly because I plowed headlong into a tree. The crash didn't hurt. I've built up quite a resistance bumping into stray furniture as a child, if I do say so myself! More importantly, you noticed! You were concerned for my safety! The only one who cared!

As we sit here enjoying our picnic in Okuden Valley, I am drawn to you like a Battle Chip to a PET. No, that sounds lame. Like a NetNavi to a Magnet Line? Crap, I'm not very good at this.

I watch you eat, teeth sunk firm into your meal. Your delicate lips close around the corncob as you suck out the kernels. I don't even know why the sight of you chewing food is so interesting. If this is weird, I'm sorry for having these thoughts about you. I promise! I have plenty of normal, unweird dreams about you too! Wait, that came out wrong. I'm freaking you out, aren't I?

What am I, thick? You can't read my mind.

To you, I'm loud, goofy Hikari Netto. Your friend. That's all we'll ever be. Friends.

It's strange being a boy, isn't it? We're brought up and spend a decent portion of our early lives believing girls to be icky and nasty, and that kissing them is the grossest thing a kid can do. Then, at some point, we're expected to reverse course in the opposite direction! With the flip of a light switch! Just like that!

I don't hate girls. I just really like this one guy – You! I like you! And I wish I could tell you. And I wish you'd let me kiss you, but I'm afraid I'd be bad at it and disappoint.

The meat kebab I saved has gone missing, and I'm in a fit. It's stupid, yet it doubles as an excuse. An excuse to keep admiring you while I fake a tantrum.

Sometimes, I think I'm crazy for feeling this way, or hoping you'd like me back. What I wouldn't do to be the reason you wake up every day.

Tohru-kun…

Sometimes, I wish you were mine.


	2. Tohru

Sometimes

Author's Note: Enjoy the story and R&R.

Disclaimer: Set during episode 35 of _EXE_. I do not own anything related to or of the Rockman EXE series.

Pairing: Netto x Tohru.

Summary:

Hikari Netto and Hikawa Tohru work through their burgeoning feelings for each other during their trip to Okuden Valley.

* * *

Chapter 2: Tohru

Sometimes, I feel you're the only reason I wake up every day. Morning after morning, I rise, bereft of the thing that departed me long ago. I make my bed, brush my teeth, shower, and descend to the table. It's just Otosan and me, all alone in that big house. I'm lucky if he's even there, if he hasn't already been pulled off to the waterworks.

I search for you on the right side of the mattress, expecting you to be curled up and snoozing like a rock, but you are gone. Dekao-kun's snoring is loud and sort of frightening, even through my earplugs. You'd laugh at that, I'm sure.

When you said we'd be bunking together, I was ecstatic. For once, maybe I could awaken to your handsome face. Perhaps, fingers crossed, my troubled dreams would give way to a semblance of normalcy, instead of an empty pang. It's the middle of the night now, but still, I crave your warmth.

It's wrong, I confess. To ask you to share your body heat with me, aware my intentions are not a hundred percent pure. You, in your infinite generosity and mercy – some say gullibility – would gladly throw your arms around me, though. Is it so egotistical of me to desire this feeling?

Without my dad, without Iceman, I'd be null. They repeat that Okaasan died in a car accident, but I know it's a lie. She abandoned us before I could even walk, yet I can't bring myself to blame her for leaving. A son's life to his mother is in theory cause for celebration. I was not the happiness she envisioned, therefore she deserted us. Deserted me.

Unlike her, this frigidity won't forsake me.

I am parched for love. The affections of my father and NetNavi are not enough. I want a love that is apart. One who is not bound to me by obligation, whom I love, and who loves me back. I'm sorry it had to be you. Meiru-chan would kill me should she discover my predilection. She is taken with you too, you know?

Do you know? Or are you really that innocent? I can't tell. You gather allies so effortlessly, I'm certain your future is full of tenderness. She'll succeed where I have failed. Meiru-chan is lively and beautiful, while I'm plain meek and a studious bother. A boy isn't supposed to ache for his male friends.

Yet, as I lie here, stroking the groove on the cot left by your absent sleeping form, I cannot help but hold on to a slim hope. For you, my love. The light I desperately chase. What I wouldn't do to feel your lips against mine.

Netto-kun…

Sometimes, I wish I were yours.


End file.
